Hi Friend.
I bet that email subject got your attention, eh? I hope so.
In my pervasive influx of drone news from around the world, I learned about a Mr. Paul Skinner of Seattle, Washington USA. A couple of weeks ago he was found guilty of reckless endangerment from an incident
at the city’s 2015 Pride Parade. He lost control of his drone, crashed it into
a building, and then it fell from the sky impacting and injuring two people.
One woman received
a concussion and lost consciousness from the drone’s impact.
This is serious (and very sad) stuff. Not only for the two victims, who I hope have made a full recovery. But Paul and his family are probably in very tough shape.
I don't know Paul or his background. But being a guy in Seattle with a $1,200 drone (more or less) from DJI, he was probably a normally upstanding white-collar citizen who loved technology and wanted to put it to fun use.
Today right now as you read this, he is in jail serving a 30 day sentence.
I'll give you a link to the article I found shortly. But let's bring this back to you, Friend.
Please remember that drones are serious pieces of equipment. They have a lot of kinetic energy when they are falling at terminal velocity or flying at full speed. At the same time, they could have spinning rotors (actual knife-edge blades) spinning at thousands of RPM.
It isn't quite as dangerous as launching a table saw into the air and trying to maneuver it around a construction site. But that image should give you a lot of humility and respect, shouldn't it?
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| I don't tell you this to demotivate you and stop you from pursuing drones for your business. I want you to have respect for the effort and diligence you will need to make sure you bring drones into your business LEGALLY, SAFELY, and RESPONSIBLY.
Doing it wrong can have very serious negative consequences for you, your company, and your future. Let's make sure that doesn't happen.
What could you do to avoid an accident like this? Well, besides avoiding this irresponsible situation in the first place (flying a drone above a large crowd), drones that represent a significant financial investment (and carry significant risk of damage or injury) should have an emergency descent system. More commonly known as:
a parachute!
If you have an industrial-grade UAS that costs $30k or more with all the associated hardware and attachments, isn't it smart insurance to install a parachute system for $1,000 or so?
You bet it is.
And here is some word on the street - whenever the FAA releases their regulations to allow drone flights over people and crowds, a lot of us are betting that some type of descent arresting system will be required as standard equipment for drones over a certain weight.
Assuming you aren't flying a toy drone that can be a stocking stuffer from Sharper Image, that means your drone, Friend.
Here is a company I know and recommend for a system like this: Fruity Chutes. I have talked with the CEO and founder Gene Engelgau several times and met him in person. The name of his company is a little flaky or playful, I admit. But he takes his products very seriously. If you end up going to Fruity Chutes for a parachute system for your drone, please tell Gene you heard about him from me. :-) Here's a picture of one of his systems on a large multirotor:
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If you have any questions about what systems may be best for your situation - hardware, software, or training services - please get in touch with me. I appreciate your desire to realize the benefits of drones for your business and I would love to see that become a reality for you.
Without you or anyone else going to jail. Don't be like Paul Skinner in Seattle please.
You can read that article here on Geekwire.
Take care and take charge,
Brett
Phone: 210-753-0843 (US Pacific time)
P.S. I mentioned that the drone was from DJI because they have created a big controversy last week with a white paper they released. They proposed increasing the minimum weight below which no FAA regulation or safety standards are required from 250 grams to 2.2 kilograms! That is 4.8 pounds. The DJI drone that knocked this woman unconscious was about 1.2 kg or 2.5 pounds. Needless to say, DJI and those authors are getting some massive criticism. Including from me (professionally and respectfully, of course). Maybe more "inside business" than you care about but it is top on my mind so I thought I would mention it. If you want to see that white paper or go to some places online with "lively discussions" on the topic, let me know. ;-)
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